A DVD Feature I'd Like to See

FROM: Tina
DATE: Thursday December 26, 2002 -- 8:33:08 am

"Enabling this feature would simply drop out any questionable dialogue, making it safer for younger ears. "

Maybe you could do that with porn - get a jump on sex ed!

I'm sorry, if you don't think your kid should watch something "sketchy", there is an even simpler solution - uh, don't let them watch it. Sorry I'm so cranky after the holidays....

FROM: Greg
DATE: Thursday December 26, 2002 -- 10:50:27 am

And here I was thinking that I was the only one that brought up porn.

Ryan, I like your idea. But there should be a flip side. Every spot profanity can be added, it should be! Plus, these features should be available in French and Spanish dubbing so we can learn how to curse in other languages to help improve our minds while watching movies.

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Thursday December 26, 2002 -- 12:09:16 pm

Tina -- Believe me, I don't plan on being the type of parent that either tries to shield my children from everything or tries to lobby to have everything I deem inappropriate blocked... and I don't even know whether I'd even make use of the feature I mentioned above, but I think in the grand scheme of things, it might help filmmakers preserve their vision of their movie while allowing parents to block what they don't want their children hearing.

Or maybe it's a stupid idea. I dunno. Just brainstorming.

FROM: Greg C.
DATE: Thursday December 26, 2002 -- 12:54:27 pm

The DVD spec does have this feature, it's called "Parental Control" or something like that. It's like all the other cool features that are in the DVD spec that DO NOT GET USED BY THE STUDIOS!

It's an encodable/programmable feature, similar to subtitles, encoded on the disc, yet I have yet to see one movie studio include the feature on any of their movies. When I first heard of it, I had thought it'd be a parent-controllable feature, you know... go to a point in the movie to stop playing, then go to a second point to start again, so unless you enter a codeword, it'll skip that portion of the movie. But no, this feature is only available if the studio has turned the bit on for the DVD.

I think it works similar to Macrovision. Every DVD player has a Macrovision encoder in it. If the studio has paid Macrovision, they are allowed to turn the bit on. This will disallow VHS recording with an um... defater. :)

Here's some info on the parental controls:

http://www.orionstudios.com/DirectDVDHelp/Parental/Understanding_DVD_Parental_Control.htm

Greg

FROM: Tina
DATE: Thursday December 26, 2002 -- 3:16:07 pm

Don't worry, Ryan, I would think you'd be more in the parental school of "Let's Take the Kids to that KISS concert, honey!!" than anything that smacked of censorship.

I'm still paying my Ryan fan club dues....luv and hugs, Tina.

FROM: Robert [E-Mail]
DATE: Thursday December 26, 2002 -- 6:31:46 pm

I wouldn't like that feature. You don't fuck with other people's art (believe it or not, even crappy Hollywood movies are art) simply because you don't like some part of it. If a director wanted to make a "sanitized" version of his/her movie then roll with it, but don't leave this up to the studios because they'll turn right around to bend over for the MPAA or some far worse organization.

FROM: Ryan [E-Mail]
DATE: Friday December 27, 2002 -- 9:11:46 am

they'll turn right around to bend over for the MPAA or some far worse organization.

They already do that now -- hence the plethora of "Director's Cut" DVDs!

FROM: Robert [E-Mail]
DATE: Friday December 27, 2002 -- 11:43:26 pm

Yeah, but director's cuts have just as much to do with length as content.

FROM: Matt
DATE: Wednesday January 1, 2003 -- 11:43:48 pm

There's actually a movie filter that you can purchase that filters out bad words and phrases etc.

FROM: Ken
DATE: Tuesday April 12, 2005 -- 8:27:41 pm

You have kids!?!? Learn something new everyday. I remember when that was in theatres, my friend saw it with her mom and like 4 little siblings and the mom made them leave because it was inapropriate for the little kids. My friend has a program has a filter that filters out im's with bad words like "stud" "lolita" and "butt" it is stupid so it blocks out "study", "lol i talked" and "but they". The program is pretty stupid oh, and it blocks hung, like it blocks the stupidest words.

FROM: Ryan [E-Mail]
DATE: Wednesday April 13, 2005 -- 8:46:13 am

You have kids!?!?

Nope, not yet.

FROM: Ryan [E-Mail]
DATE: Wednesday April 13, 2005 -- 8:47:05 am

And, incidentally, I look back at this Ping and shudder. I can't believe I thought such a stupid ass idea was good.

FROM: Paul
DATE: Wednesday April 13, 2005 -- 9:46:18 am

I'm also wondering why you were watching Scooby-Doo in the first place. Is this your "O'Reilly Factor?"

FROM: Ryan [E-Mail]
DATE: Wednesday April 13, 2005 -- 9:53:27 am

I'm also wondering why you were watching Scooby-Doo in the first place.

Nieces, man, nieces.

FROM: heather
DATE: Wednesday April 13, 2005 -- 12:56:17 pm

"And, incidentally, I look back at this Ping and shudder. I can't believe I thought such a stupid ass idea was good."

It was a good idea. That was one reason I spent a small fortune on a DVD player on my laptop 7 years ago. I was misinformed that this was an option on DVDs. I was exicted that I could now see some of the rated R movies that looked interesting (Elizabeth). What a let down. Kids aren't the only ones who don't like vulgar language.